the aftermath of russia's worst river disaster in decades as the bodies of over one hundred people including many children have been recovered from the volga river rescues continue the search for more. the american missile shield over europe remains the main obstacle in rushing u.s. relations as russia's foreign minister who's on a visit to washington calls for legal guarantees moscow will not be targeting. the euro zone economic crisis deepens as all of this is downgraded to junk status fueling fears the country may need a second thing you know. and it's. nervous days for on average the

markets but great news for gold find out why and our business bulletin and twenty minutes. good to have you with us this hour with news and comment from around the world this is r.t. live in moscow with the twenty four hours a day revelations keep coming about the ill fated voyage of the sunken pleasure cruise on the volga river as a former captain says it was technically dead long before sunday's disaster over one hundred people are now officially confirmed to have died after the bulgaria went down in just a matter of minutes and the republican party's tom barton has the latest from the scene and you may find some of the images in his report disturbing. at the moment two hundred divers are working out in the volga three kilometers from the bank in shifts searching room by room inside the sunken belgariad pleasure cruiser and

behind me the river ports the number of flowers and cuddly toys and candles that are piling up against the walls of the river port here continues to grow ever there's also another feeling going here as well as of grief and that's of anger and questions increasingly growing as to the revelations that keep emerging about the ship just earlier here at the river port a former captain of that ship the bulgaria came and reveals some alarming details about the ship's life before its last voyage. i became captain of the vessel in two thousand and seven the ship hadn't even been renovated for a while before that there were big problems with the engines and power generators repeatedly mention that to the management and even had an argument with them these debates will continue as to what caused this tragic sinking but it doesn't do anything to relieve the grief here on the banks of the volga. this is the happy

scene that should have been this ship is designed almost identically to the bulgaria in this room almost identical to the one that children on that ship played in but for whatever reason their fate was very different. as crowds gathered in remembrance of those killed by the sinking of the volga pleasure boat it was the younger victims that seem to cast the longest shadow. these schoolgirls had lost one of their classmates. from was really starting to get . for a year she never had on him and so the one she was a very kind girl and was always ready to help. as divers reached the playroom one

of the bulgaria's upper decks they found the bodies of the children that had gathered there just before the boat sunk. once inside the boat dividers were everywhere and the chorus and cabins and most of them were in the lifeless divers now have the awful task of bringing the bodies to the surface those left behind can only wonder at how fast their families were torn apart. our colleague was on that ship she went on a cruise together with her family husband five year old son and daughter she was pregnant and was to deliver her second baby in august has not found yet only her husband managed to survive she and her son died. and for those children left suddenly without parents the terrible truth they may not be able to comprehend for years she lost her mother and father we're all but will have to look after and she's only one and here is old knowledge that all you tell her we can't she

wouldn't understand but there is much that people don't understand about this disaster reports about the ship's engines failing about blocked emergency exits and electricity failure that stopped any s.o.s. or evacuation instructions going out criminal cases have been opened into why two ships passing straight after the same thing didn't stop to pick up a single person and into why the aging vessel was allowed to sail in the first place but for those who have lost loved ones the case will never be closed. and on our website hartley dot com you can read the account of one man who alone saved almost eighty people from people very many of praise the captain of the only ship that stopped and help the stricken pleasure cruiser he modestly points to his crew and passengers as the real heroes he said that everyone was touched by what they saw and rushed to help without hesitation he went on to describe how they took

their own clothes and gave them to the wounded there's more on our website that's part of. washington's proposed missile shield over europe remains the stumbling block in russian american relations that's according to foreign minister sergei lavrov who is currently on a visit to the united states he's due to meet secretary of state hillary clinton shortly after a brief talks with president obama are he's going to carney has more from our washington bureau. the meeting took place the meeting took place behind closed doors and there have been no statements afterwards so there's no way of knowing what they were actually discussing it could be the weather but they are definitely more pressing issues and one of the most irritating ones in the relations between the two countries is america's missile defense plans in europe president obama has scrapped the bush admin administration missile defense plans but they're going ahead with a new one foreign minister lavrov said where she needs legally binding guarantees

that the project will not threaten russia's security washington has made reassuring statements before but moscow needs to have it on paper some analysts explained this urge there were getting everything on paper with promises in the past that were not fulfilled for example when the soviet union collapsed russia was assured that nato would not be expanding towards its borders but it did continue to recruiting new members so there is an understanding among the russians that words are good but words in a legally binding document are better on international issues there are certain this agreements and the are being discussed with regards to leader for example for the ladder of said colonel qaddafi must step down and there's no place for him in the future of libya and that's exactly a view shared by the obama administration as well but russia criticizes the scope of the foreign intervention in libya moscow sees the actions of the allied forces there as violation of the u.n. mandate to live or of said the resolution is being wrongly interpreted as anyone can do whatever they want with moscow seizes the west now clearly taking sides in

a civil war and extending the conflict talking about syria of the lack of said the attitude of the west is exclusively about exerting pressure on one of the parties namely the syrian government and president assad and moscow sees it as the wrong attitude he said it sends the wrong message to the syrian opposition prompting them to believe that if they remain insistent in the situation keeps getting critical then the west will come to help them the way it is happening in libya. yes a lot of said it is unacceptable that the opposition from resort to violence agitating peaceful protesters into engaging in r. and clashes in it practically turning them into a target for the police and security forces a lot of different approaches as you can see and they are being discussed here. three explosions of struck the indian city of mumbai reports at least seventeen people have been killed and dozens injured and islamic group called the indian mujahideen has reportedly claimed responsibility our correspondent. is in india for

us. three bomb explosions occurred within minutes of each other and this happened in very crowded neighborhoods one was a famous jewelry market and there was a bomb that was said to be found in a jewelry shop also near the opera house being known by among by it's in the western state of maharashtra obviously a very important city in india considering the financial capital here the ministry of home affairs that there is a terror attack the national investigative service has flown from new delhi to mumbai right now to figure out what exactly has gone on down there most recent terrorist attacks. now the new eight it was the period of shootings that happened in the taj hotel one hundred sixty four people were killed there it was that to have been a fun experiment actually the pakistan great service otherwise known as the eye of fact were held responsible for those attacks back in two thousand and eight two

years prior to that in two thousand and six another series of coordinated attacks that happened on that in different trains in india that we've got to have been the students islamic movement of india by is still trying to deal with those to refinish then now if it happened people are just left wondering how this could have occurred so soon after those two thousand and eight attacks. well to discuss this let's talk to turn he's the investigations and it's with the to help weekly magazine in mumbai we join him live thanks very much for being with us here. so what do we know about this group the indian which you had being. willing to do what you. would do a lot of. these groups. this group basically does logically financially support well because the border. as we know killing these groups. but the move.

nation which was good thank you six eleven kind of ok so you. don't want to do it but you can control. came back as. well that you mention pakistan. would be any links at all with that group who were held responsible for the hotel bombings back in two thousand and eight when something like andre three people were killed there would have been links perhaps between those two organizations yes absolutely they had clearly if you had in fact. if you remember the pakistani mujahideen who had infiltrated mumbai they claimed concerns to be. had been trying to. create incentives as the indians had been a part of the deccan mujahedeen or begin to have been actually comes from india would be less fit god has been no chewing this time or doing getting a deal the last seven eight years they have been providing logistical and financial

support have been paid in the end he sings secret hideouts in pakistan and a lot of them come back into india and then don't you think that's. because the e-mails. back in pakistan and get him to conclude by demo and plan to get a strike in quite a nation. in pakistan since there is this all based on extreme extremist islamic fundamentalism what is exactly that aim that to destabilize mumbai were they trying to do. because grievances have been a demotion of the disputed market. because nobody knows you. and i something called into when a loved one calls in muslims for the record industry a good job there. he finally. decided all of these kids will grow so good have been good and because of the boxes and

a little bit of pride they have been left. i do. people in could use while there. were pictures. right back. to back and that's the reason that the. iraqi. who just because if you look at if you a jolly good shot it happens to be the height of the most awful. things we had to get a good job peace remains but i think we're going to talk just briefly we talked about those two thousand and eight hotel attacks in your city which originated in pakistan now a lot of course strained relations between the two countries what effect this attack have now on relations between the two just briefly. it wasn't. actually looking very. good infiltrating when they. did a good deal if you can link that back he isolated but.

in this instance it's. a snowden. dispute actually going to be here. clearly get your take. on pakistan so. i don't think we can just very briefly please we're talking live in mumbai obviously these are events are unfolding at the moment this could be the start of many more explosions tell us what is it like to be there at the moment how the emergency services what's the mood like is there panic there in the streets in mumbai just briefly. then again he's been he didn't do the simple big yahoo because. it was full of i knew the last twenty years. you know that but he was. the head of the speedometer.

and he does the and i'm the. straight maker that i should look asian and i was really. really good. to be here yet who gives. a three star. or a fish to town thanks very much indeed investigations editor with the to help weekly magazine live there in mumbai. other news now this hour rupert murdoch's media empire has announced it's to withdraw its bid to buy outright control of the u.k.'s biggest satellite broadcaster b. sky b. it's the latest twist to the phone hacking crisis that's engulfed the company as the scandal goes global across the atlantic it's claimed that journalists try to bribe new york police officers for access to the voicemail of nine eleven victims u.s. senators are also now calling for their own investigation into news corp but its prime minister david cameron has also to monitor probe into the nine eleven claims

and pull lashmar he's an investigative reporter and head of journalism a brutal university in the u.k. he told me earlier that the story's gone beyond the united kingdom and well beyond just hacking into voice mail. the events that we've seen over the last couple weeks were extraordinary what was the u.k. story it's now become tell you should spread through news its national of u.k. right out now into united states and australia it poses quite a big threat to go to camera because it's the first time we've seen his judgment quite clearly brought seriously into question the decision to use and you call sort . of the news of the world when some of. these events were so you can place as his press advisor what was clearly a very very bad judgment and it's thrown to him and he now is trying his best to make clear blue water between him and news international and now we've got the fact the way appears to be in some hacking into gordon brown's private life you have to

say you have to start wonder what else is in there and of course it's not only it's not just phone hacking it's now the use of what we call blaggard and use of people played to help train people from asia and from what should be private sources like medical records and tax records so it's the ability as we speak. palash well talk to me should say talking to a little earlier here on r.t. the explosive mixture of media and politics in the hacking scandal that's gripping the world's attention is also discussed in today's edition of cross talk and you can join peter neufeld and his guests in two hours from now but here's a quick preview for you. but in this particular case with news of the world it looks more and more like you had reporters and editors who are engaging in criminal conduct there is no concept of free press anywhere in the world that enables journalists to break the law if someone hacked my voicemail i would love to see them in jail but if you look at the criticisms that are being leveled at murdoch it

goes far beyond that people are using this as an opportunity to attack and for us politics and for a straight and see as first partisanship. in. the eurozone has been dealt a fresh blow as arlen's debt is downgraded to junk status by moody's credit rating agency feeling concerns the country could be the second brainer this comes a week after portugal's rating was also reduced and followed speculation that it's elite who might soon ask for a helping hand i'll discuss these latest developments and what they might signal for the e.u. and indian art itself i'm now joined live from dublin by joe higgins he's a member of the parliament thanks very much indeed for joining us so this downgrading surely hasn't come a good time for ireland helpful or destructive what's the feeling there in and.

the point about this latest twist of the news is. it shows the failure of the policy to date of polishing the irish people for billions of gambling debts by european bankers and irish bankers with property speculators in ireland. putting out on the shoulders of ordinary people increasing their taxes cutting their wages and cutting their public services in order to pay these bankers bought causing further economic crisis and thereby giving the rating agencies the excuse to say that the economy is. failing and that there therefore there may be. an inability to pay the debts in the next in the next two years and therefore reducing the. i have to

say however these rating agencies like all the situations in the financial markets how of north credibility in reality they are part of the problem not part of the solution they were up to their necks when the speculative really are. the veriest were being created in the united states. and europe and not presume to. be. out of this really and the government. the government in ireland has adopted a disastrous policy in my view in agreeing to take on tens of billions of euros of . i'm really sorry sorry we not work we are cutting out a little bit with the communication i just picked up you saying disappointed by the government's handling this and except to meet measures what should the government be doing now what is the alternative. first of all we should not get

a cent more in these private gambling debts to european banks or irish bankers they're not the responsibility to be irish people secondly we need a major public investment in our society especially in major infrastructure to take tens of thousands of people off the disastrously rising unemployment queues and in order to generate to recreate our economy create new wealth. in who will develop these services like education and health that are under severe pressure of the at the present and secondly we need the financial and shit sorry sorry we have got a lot of time in this this connection is breaking up and i do want to ask you though. clearly life in ireland is very tough for people at the moment perhaps e anger spilling onto the streets in dublin in the way that we seen the violence in

athens are people getting extremely angry about this what is the mood people are very angry and now a protest movement is beginning there were a thousand people outside the parliament today protesting against cuts in education for special needs children there is a major movement of opposition there was a few thousand on the streets outside parliament last week in regard to costs of hospitals i would predict from september on when parliament week begins after the summer break there would be major mobilization zob. we cannot pay anymore these banks have to speculators must take their own losses and i would predict a major movement of people which we in the socialist party are to. change in policy that banks and financial institutions the financial markets and what's been called licola should give a crutch of control for developing helping to develop society in ireland and

throughout europe rather than creating crisis of the crisis for hundreds of millions of europeans joe higgins the technical gremlins were slightly against us there but i'm glad we persisted because a very interesting to hear what you had to say live there in dublin joe higgins a member of parliament in dublin thanks very much indeed for joining us. now time for a brief look at some other international news in brief this hour thousands of protesting in the egyptian capital car if the six day running demanding the removal of the military council and threatening to expand their city to other cities then as traitors are also calling for the president he's going to barack is aid to face prosecution for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the uprising in february the military is one protested against using violence but said it wouldn't try to stop the rally. and half of the afghan president hamid karzai has been buried in kandahar because i was murdered in his home there on tuesday a taliban has described the assassination as their biggest achievement in ten years

shortly after the ceremony two explosions were reported in kandahar and a regional government narrowly escaped a roadside bombing on his way to the funeral. to bring something for the moment of business news is next with marina stay with us live in moscow. and business here at sea now also with gold i mentioned earlier that is going great was actually trading near record highs and that's because investors run for safe haven from the crisis spreading across europe seen jacobsen from saxo bank believes the strength in precious metal work and so e.u. politicians find a workable solution. gold is now the only currency even though ironically it's not really a currency that is validating your your long term investment criteria is in the sense that this is a currency that cannot be devalued by printing of money i think the reason why gold is going out right now is that everyone seems to sense that the political solution

once again becomes for owing more debt at a dead issue we need to change that will probably take some pressure off the risperdal in goal but goal is going on today tomorrow and for the nation as long as the politicians play this game of hide and seek and no decision making. and the spike the nervousness any europe in fact in the russian market peter greste in front at some capital still believes there are good stories to trade here. speaking about sectors. listen vironment you like to see more support for the difference in names like telecom like you treated in this although you could argue what was to what extent utilities throughout the transom but nevertheless the more liquid name was hydro holding my. breath you know in this kind of environment but nevertheless you also have the elections to look out for and we know that utilities can produce those who with high political risk. i mean really interesting it's going to get beyond this year listing it's going to london listing and really seeing an

increasing interest in that name so i you know this is something which is both a fancy beautiful for a good story. let's take a look at the markets now wall street is trading strongly in the black as the federal reserve says it could further stimulate the u.s. economy if conditions deteriorate also sentiment is being supported by stronger than expected economic growth data from china. european markets finished on a positive note helped by the gains on wall street and that's the spike another downgrade of arlen these rating agency over the sovereign debt it's very group was up five percent in london and that's after the luxury goods maker reported revenues rose thirty percent in the first quarter. and here in moscow the markets also closed in the black let's take a look at some individual movers on the my sax sperm bank and in the right the losses were limited by an earlier reports of one hundred eighty percent jump in

first half net profits overall call it was up more than one and a half percent after the you left of course on posts hash imports from russia and coal miner at a spot sky rally their expectations of its takeover bid from v e b. p to be capped its all wraps up the day straight for us a yesterday was that was a tough day for for for russian market the global markets were selling off but as we started to intervene there was room. or that they are going to start buying italian bonds mostly b. yields on the. on its own bonus sort of following that help market markets higher into the close yesterday and some of the movement expanded into today as are a lot of session jelly volumes have been subdued investors are bit lost as to how to position themselves because in the one hand there's a lot of very tricky and difficult circumstances in the in the west of the other hand the world price is is performing quite well which is obviously positive for.

russia so for allies or make or force our growth has raised a little over half a billion dollars from its london i.p.o. of a stock price at the bottom of the range they are losing the company at five billion dollars and the spill a full saga has strong upside potential as the for analyzer sector benefits from rising demand for food or biofuels. but others may sell stakes in seven companies to russia after accepting a bailout for its crisis hit economy these will include gas pipeline companies and two refineries russians acknowledge peace corp and state wrong gascoyne are among those interested in the assets minsk received an eight hundred million dollar bailout last month as the cash strapped economy burn through its currency reserves . well that's all the business news for now join us for another update in about fifteen minutes in the meantime stay tuned for the headlines with carol.

bringing you the latest in science technology from the realm of russia. we've done the future coverage. in india she's made.